Thermopylae

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A narrow mountain pass in central Greece that was the site of a legendary 480 BCE battle where a small Greek force held off a much larger Persian army
2. The strategically important gap between mountains in ancient Greece famous for the heroic last stand of Greek warriors against invading Persian forces
3. A renowned ancient Greek mountain passage celebrated for the courageous defensive battle fought there in 480 BCE between Greeks and Persians

Etymology: Thermopylae is a place name rather than a common word, and its meaning is transparent in Greek: "Thermopúlai" combines "thermá", meaning "hot", with "púlai", meaning "gates" or "passes". The name refers to a narrow coastal pass in central Greece, where hot sulphurous springs rose near the sea, giving the site its warm-gates title. The pass gained enduring fame in 480 BCE, when a small Greek force under the Spartan king Leonidas held it against the much larger army of Xerxes I of Persia. Because the pass was so narrow, its defence was long remembered as a stand against overwhelming odds, and the name became shorthand for a heroic last stand. Its reputation was shaped in ancient accounts of the battle, most famously Herodotus's history of the Persian Wars. In English the name is used mainly for this battle and site, and it has been borrowed from Latin, which took it from the Greek form.